Updates from Jordan!
Three citizens, including a child, were injured by Israeli occupation forces’ bullets during a raid on Balata camp, east of Nablus.
Medical sources reported that ambulance crews dealt with 3 injuries, including a child (14 years old), who was shot with live bullets by the occupation forces in the thigh, hand and foot, in the vicinity of Balata camp, and they were transferred to the hospital.
The occupation army stormed Jerusalem Street near Balata camp
Source: Maan News Agency
The “Islamic Resistance” issued a communique this afternoon, indicating that in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the Resistance fighters directly targeted at 5:00 p.m. today the enemy’s Samaka and Ruwaysat al-Alam posts in the occupied Lebanese Kfar Shouba hilltops with rocket weapons.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon
Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced plans to outsource airports’ management and operations to the private sector, aligning with broader government efforts to increase private sector involvement in the economy.
In a statement to the cabinet’s media office on Saturday 3/8/2024, the ministry said the private sector ‘is best positioned to manage and operate airport facilities efficiently.’
The ministry added that such a step is expected to attract more investment in the aviation sector and maximize its economic returns while dismissing reports of airport sales to foreign entities.
‘The Egyptian airports are fully state-owned and subject to Egyptian sovereignty,’ asserted the statement.
The ministry outlined a strategy focused on infrastructure upgrades, advanced security systems, expanding airline networks, and supporting low-cost carriers to enhance airports’ efficiency and capacity.
Over the past two years, the Egyptian government has taken measures to reduce state involvement in various secto
rs, including transportation, as part of the State Ownership Policy Document approved by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in late 2022.
As part of the document, Egypt seeks to double the private sector’s contribution to the country’s economic activities to 65 percent within a couple of years.
Last year, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly unveiled the plan to privitize airports’ management and operation, discussing the initiative with representatives from over 20 transportation, logistics, and maritime navigation companies.
The country’s airports witnessed a 28 percent surge in passenger traffic in 2023, reaching nearly 47 million passengers compared to the previous year.
Additionally, the number of flights passing through Egyptian airports rose by 23 percent, reaching 365,000 flights.
Cairo International Airport, the country’s largest air hub, served over 26 million passengers through 198,000 flights last year.
Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh, popular tourist destinations, welcomed 8.7 million and 5.9 million p
assengers, respectively. Borg El Arab International Airport handled over two million travellers.
Egypt attracted a record-breaking 7.069 million tourists between January and June 2024, compared to 7.062 million in the same period last year.
Egypt has ambitious plans to attract 30 million tourists by 2028.
Source: State Information Service Egypt
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli inspected a number of factories of the free investment zone in Alexandria.
This came during the premier’s tour on Saturday that started with visiting the Alex Apparels for Readymade Garments.
The Premier was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Transport and Industry Kamel Wazir, Investment and Foreign Trade Minister Hassan Khatib, Alexandria Governor Ahmed Khaled Hassan and CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Hossam Heiba.
The Premier inspected all production stages and final products of Alex Apparels For Readymade Garments.
He also chatted with a number of the factory workers on work conditions and training programs for up skilling them.
For his part, Ihab Mohy, the board chairman of the Alex Apparels For Readymade Garments, said the number of direct laborers at the company’s factories has so far reached 8,500 with 70% of them are women.
He said the company’s exports rose from 61 million dollars i
n 2014 to 118.2 million dollars in 2023.
Source: State Information Service Egypt
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli asserted the state is keen on supporting and encouraging the national industry and solving any problems facing investors.
The industry sector is the “hope” for boosting the Egyptian economy, added the premier at a press conference following his inspection tour of a number of factories in Alexandria governorate on Saturday 3/8/2024.
Madbouli said his inspection tours of project and production sites across the country are meant to support and expand industrial activities and ensure that immediate decisions are taken to solve problems hampering economic and industrial development, which, he added is important to save time for the private sector and investors.
When the issue is so important, such as in the case of second Margham area in Alexandra, prompt action has to be taken to identify and resolve all problems, he said, noting that a meeting will be held next week to solve the issue of this particular area, which has to do with the whole place and does not concern one factory
alone.
Source: State Information Service Egypt
The Health Emergency Operations Center of the Ministry of Public Health issued a statement this afternoon, indicating that “the Israeli aggression on the town of Deir Siryan led to the martyrdom of a 17-year-old boy and the injury of six civilians, five of whom were transferred to Martyr Ragheb Harb Hospital and their condition is stable, while another injured person in moderate condition was transferred to Nabih Berri Governmental Hospital in Nabatieh.”
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon
Gaza: Israeli aircraft continued their bombardment of various areas in the Gaza Strip on the 302nd day of the war, leaving a large number of martyrs and wounded.
Gaza and the North
The intensity of the raids on Gaza City, especially the southern neighborhoods, escalated.
An Israeli bombardment on the Abu Hasira family home in the Sabra neighborhood led to the martyrdom of ten citizens and the injury of others, according to family sources. One
martyr was killed and 11 citizens were injured when a house belonging to the Mahna family was targeted on the second street in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, west of Gaza City.
Six citizens were killed in a bombardment on the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza City, while a citizen was killed in a bombardment near the Amal Hotel, west of the city.
In the south of the Strip,
three citizens were killed in a bombardment that targeted the al-Najjar family home in the village of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis.
Four citizens, including a woman, were also ki
lled in a bombardment that targeted the Barbakh family home near the Abu Hamid roundabout in central Khan Yunis.
In Rafah, paramedics recovered the bodies of three citizens from the north of Rafah city, south of the Strip.
The eastern parts of the city were subjected to artillery shelling.
In the middle of the Gaza Strip,
the occupation army renewed its targeting of the Al-Bureij camp in the middle of the Strip.
A mother and her child were killed in an occupation air strike on the Al-Dayah family home in the Al-Bureij camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
Two martyrs were killed as a result of the occupation bombing of the Al-Judaili family home near the club roundabout in the Al-Bureij camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip
Source: Maan News Agency
Gaza: The Ministry of Health in Gaza said: The Israeli occupation committed 3 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, resulting in 31 martyrs and 62 injuries arriving at hospitals during the past 24 hours.
The Ministry of Health indicated that the death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 39,550 martyrs and 91,280 injuries since October 7.
It noted that a number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them.
Israeli aircraft continued their bombing of various areas of the Gaza Strip on the 302nd day of the war, leaving a large number of martyrs and wounded
Source: Maan News Agency
Gaza: The Americans for Palestinian Orphans organization concluded its first summer camp for orphans in the northern Gaza Strip on Friday. The camp lasted for the past week and witnessed wide participation from orphaned children living under the difficult circumstances imposed by the war.
The camp was held under the slogan ‘Camp of Hope’, aiming to provide psychological and social support to orphaned children and enhance their spirit of resilience and hope in light of the harsh conditions they live in.
The camp included many recreational, educational, sports and health activities, in addition to workshops aimed at developing children’s personal and social skills.
The organization’s coordinator in Gaza, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Ghandour, said in a speech he delivered during the closing ceremony of the camp, “We are proud of the success of this camp, which seeks to provide a glimmer of hope and joy to orphaned children in Gaza. They are the future and we are committed to providing them with all possible support to ove
rcome these difficult circumstances.”
Al-Ghandour stressed that the camp is part of the organization’s ongoing efforts to support orphaned children in the Gaza Strip, as the organization aims to improve their lives through educational, health and psychological programs.
He also pointed out that the ongoing war in Gaza has had a major impact on children, making it necessary to intensify efforts to provide them with the necessary support.
It is worth noting that this camp comes as part of a series of initiatives carried out by the Americans for Palestinian Orphans organization to support children in Gaza and enhance their resilience in the face of the challenges imposed by the war.
It is noteworthy that many orphans and war orphans participated in the camp, including those with hearing disabilities and other motor disabilities caused by the war, as well as wounded orphan children.
During the camp, the children were followed up by specialized doctors and provided with health care with the emergence of epide
mic diseases as a result of the war on Gaza.
At the end of the ceremony, the participating children expressed their happiness and thanks to the organization for the efforts it made to hold this camp, especially after distributing gifts on the closing day of the camp, stressing that they had a great time and learned many new skills
Source: Maan News Agency
About two thousand people from the Arab community participated in a demonstration and a national march in the city of Umm al-Fahm, to demand an end to the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
The demonstration started from the city center near the Martyr Musleh Abu Jarad roundabout, passing through the city streets and arriving at the comprehensive secondary school.
The Israeli police sent reinforced forces to raid the demonstration site after it ended to provoke the demonstrators, and arrested the head of the popular committee in Umm al-Fahm, Mourid Farid, the member of the Umm al-Fahm municipality and the secretary of the National Democratic Assembly in the city, Adham Jabareen, and the young man Baraa Taher Jabareen in addition to a fourth person before releasing them later, while seizing Palestinian flags in the place.
The demonstration was called for by the Higher Follow-up Committee and the Popular Committees in Umm al-Fahm and the Triangle area.
The demonstrators carried banners calling for an end to the criminal war, killing and genocide against the people of the Gaza Strip, and an end to the attacks and torture against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
Among the banners carried by the demonstrators were: ‘Stop the bloody war on the Gaza Strip,’ ‘The rabid government is never satisfied with blood,’ ‘Desecration of sanctities is a red line,’ and ‘Stop the abuse of prisoners.’
The mayor of Umm al-Fahm, Dr. Samir Mahameed, said in a speech that “what is happening in Gaza has not happened anywhere else in the world and we have not seen anything like it. This is a destructive war that the world is watching live without moving a finger. It is time for this war to stop and for world leaders to step up and stop it so that we can save what remains.”
He added, “It has never happened before that 40,000 people were killed, most of them children, women and elderly people, as well as 150 medical personnel, more than 150 press personnel and hundreds of
relief personnel, in addition to the demolition of mosques, relief centres and hospitals and the prevention of food and medicine.”
The head of the Higher Follow-up Committee, Muhammad Baraka, said in his speech, ‘Today we organized this march and demonstration, and before that in front of Megiddo Prison, in order to say enough to the abuse of prisoners who are facing forms of abuse and torture that the mind cannot accept. From proud Umm al-Fahm, we send our greetings to the prisoners of the Palestinian people and tell them that the dawn of freedom is coming inevitably.’
He added, “This day was agreed upon by all Palestinians and factions in the world to be a day of Palestinian protests and rallies. Palestinian protests and activities were organized in various parts of the world under the name of the International Day to Support Gaza, the Prisoners, and the Palestinian People.”
Baraka addressed the assassination of Palestinian leaders, saying, ‘Throughout history, Israel has assassinated most Palestinian le
aders from various factions. The head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, is not the first or the last. This is the method of criminal gangs and also the method of bankrupt people who believe that by assassinating leaders they defeat our people. We say that peoples are not defeated and they remain, but rather the occupation is the one that dies and armies are defeated.’
He stressed that “we are required to strengthen the unity of our people here at home. It is true that I am the head of the follow-up committee and there are some issues that I was not satisfied with, but the committee gives us the space to stand on them all and it expresses what unites us and therefore it worries the institution that seeks to take it out of the law, and the last of that was when the institution tried to remove the peace-dissemination committees headed by Sheikh Raed Salah. This institution wants gangs and those who tear us apart, not those who reconcile us.”
Baraka concluded by saying, “We commend the meeting o
f the Palestinian factions in the Chinese capital, Beijing, and the agreement reached by the factions there and in other meetings. In the name of 2 million Palestinians, we call for Palestinian consensus and unity.”
The young man, Baraa Taher Jabareen, said in an interview with Arab48 after his release, ‘The demonstration was legal and peaceful and there was nothing illegal in it. After the demonstration ended, I returned home like the rest of the participants and suddenly the forces came to the house. I was surprised when they told me that I was being arrested on the grounds of incitement.’
He continued, “When they told me the reason was incitement, I told them that this word is vague and that I did not incite and that I participated in a legal demonstration in which members of the Knesset, the Follow-Up Committee and the Popular Committee participated, and the chants were within the context, so I do not think that they are against the law.”
He said, “The police seized my phone and demanded a personal gua
rantee, but I refused and told them that I would come whenever they summoned me. I did not allow them to provoke me and take things out of context.”
The National Democratic Assembly condemned, in a statement, the arrest of the secretary of the Umm al-Fahm branch and member of the municipality, Adham Jabareen, and the head of the city’s popular committee, Mourid Farid, during the unified demonstration against the war of extermination in Gaza in the city of Umm al-Fahm, which was called for by the Higher Follow-up Committee and with the participation of hundreds of members of the Palestinian community inside.
The statement said, “The police in Israel are acting like a militia, attacking the organizers of a peaceful demonstration and representatives of the public without any reason, arresting and attacking according to the vengeful and bloody mentality of its fascist minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and working to persecute any voice that opposes the ongoing bloody war on our people in the Gaza Strip, and aiming to
break the will of our people and suppress any kind of political and national action inside.”
The group concluded its statement by saluting the crowds who participated in the demonstration, and called for the immediate release of detainees and the continuation of activities, demonstrations and sit-ins in various towns and regions in order to end the war and halt the dangerous march towards a comprehensive war led by the Israeli government amidst clear American support and blatant Arab inaction
Source: Maan News Agency